Overcharge
Liability is the calculation of the potential amount of rent
refunds a Landlord may be liable for, in the worst case scenario,
if all of the tenants who may or may not have been overcharged
file Overcharge Complaints and are awarded treble (triple) damages.
For a Landlord selling a property, any overcharge liability
usually means a reduction in the purchase price. For a Landlord
refinancing a property, it usually means a lower mortgage
amount that the lender is willing to give.

For a Purchaser,
Overcharge Liability can mean that he/she will pay less for the
building, but it also means that he/she is buying the seller's
problems. As stated, Overcharge Liability means the worst case
scenario. It does not mean that every tenant, or for that matter
any tenant, will file an Overcharge Complaint. What it means is -
Let the Buyer Beware.

Overcharge
Liability occurs in cases where a Landlord miscalculates a rent,
due to using the wrong Rent Guidelines Board Increase
amount, rounding off an increase to the nearest dollar (or ten),
miscalculation of Vacancy Rent amounts, and yes, the ever popular
- GREED! Many Landlords think that they can get away with raising
a tenant's rent as much as they want. And many Landlords do get
away with it. Until the tenant files an Overcharge Complaint.
If DHCR decides that a Landlord has willfully overcharged a
tenant, they may (and usually do) award treble damages.

A $10 a month
overcharge over a five year period, with Guidelines increases and
treble damages factored in, amounts to over $2,000. Most willful overcharges are far more than that and treble damage awards
to tenants frequently exceed $25,000.

DHCRexpert.com
reviewsRent Registration Printouts, leases, rent
histories, vacancies, major capital improvements and other
factors, then calculates the maximum legal rent using the Rent
Guidelines Board Increase Orders. We prepare a Rent Calculation
form for each apartment in the building and then assess the
amount of Overcharge Liability for the entire building. An
important factor in this calculation is the accuracy of the
Landlord's record keeping and the defensibility of a potential Overcharge
Complaint.

We then provide an
Opinion Letter for the seller, purchaser or lender,
setting forth the estimated Overcharge Liability, based on the
above factors.